Credit: Cathy Wilcox
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In an otherwise excellent and disturbing editorial (13/11) The Age refers to the Suburban Rail Loop as “gossamer” – a filmy, insubstantial substance. Rather, I would see it as a lead necklace of debt for all Victorians for many years to come. The direct cost for the project was originally estimated at $200 billion, now ballooning to unknown numbers. Unseen is the lack of a secured funding source for the direct project costs. Then there is the cost of associated infrastructure needed to maintain Melbourne’s liveability. Large funds will be needed for land acquisition to provide for green open space and public infrastructure such as schools, medical facilities and sporting complexes. Considering Victoria’s present needs, looking at transport alone, where is the airport line? Then, areas such as Doncaster, Templestowe and parts of Melbourne’s expanding north-western suburbs lack trains and other adequate public transport; while country lines such as Gippsland often lack a regular service. Where are the announcements for these priorities?
Elizabeth Meredith, Surrey Hills
Trying to get ahead of the game
With great respect I think The Age is wrong. The question is not ″Is the SRL too expensive to have?″, it is ″Do we need it?″ The population of Melbourne is expected to double over the next 25 years and we are hopelessly under equipped to handle the public transport needs. It will cost more than predicted because of the way in which contracting and politics intersect. Realistic forecasts can never work because the opposition of whatever colour will destroy them. But if we leave it to later it will cost relatively even more and the pain to those to be displaced will be even greater. Here we have a government that is attempting to get ahead of the game and needs to be supported. The real challenge is to make sure it goes ahead in the most efficient and cost effective manner. John Salmons, Sandringham
There are concerns about merit and debt
The Allan government signing further contracts for the Suburban Rail Loop (Editorial, 13/11), creates further concern about the merits of the project and the debt it will put on our children’s credit card. Having originally been conceived by private consultants and announced to the surprise of the Department of Transport, the project has also blown out from an original estimate of $50 billion to $200 billion. With details of the project taking two years to be provided to Infrastructure Australia and the federal government, the federal government is yet to provide its contribution of an initial $2.2 billion. Hardly a ringing endorsement. You can add to this the initial passenger movement estimates that further undermine the project’s merits. Given all of this and the rapid decline in the condition of the state’s roads due to declines in maintenance funding, little wonder there are growing calls for the project to be paused. Mathew Knight, Malvern East
Changes will bring greater connectivity
I must respectfully disagree with your editorial. First, our suburban rail network is based on an ″octopus″ design which means in most cases you need to literally go into the city to interchange with another line, for example, travelling from Oakleigh to get to Mitcham requires a change at Richmond. Having a loop that intersects key rail lines across our city will enable better connectivity for people that need or want to travel across rather than into Melbourne’s CBD. Second, apart from some relatively minor extensions to Sunbury and Mernda, for example, our suburban rail network has remained more or less static for decades. The SRL will boost the usefulness of the network for the reasons described in conjunction with further extensions of electrification. In the 1950s, people were sceptical regarding the Snowy Hydro Scheme however it became an incredibly successful project that benefited millions. The Loop must proceed. Steven Haby, Hughesdale
THE FORUM
Change our priorities
Well said, Jenna Price (Comment, 13/11). But if we really believe that babies and young people are our future, then we need to change our thinking and priorities as a nation.
Housing and childcare are a good start. Shelter is a human right so let’s insist on the provision of affordable, sustainable public/social housing rather than seeing housing as an investment opportunity and a step up the property ladder. Rather than being an individual responsibility, let’s see childcare as part of early childhood learning – accessible, affordable, universal. It’s not hard – Scandinavia can show us the way. Let’s even take it a step further by following Norway in adequately taxing the resource industry and providing free tertiary education for young people rather than burdening them with debt.
But it will require a change in our taxation and spending priorities. Instead of spending $368 billion on nuclear submarines, for example, and ever-increasing funds on the military, we could direct our taxes to education, health and housing and so advance the wellbeing and future of our communities.
We always think of ourselves as an egalitarian society, but the gap between the very wealthy and the strugglers is widening. Babies may well ″be our beacon″, as Price states, and young people are certainly our future. Let’s support and nurture them by prioritising how we spend our taxes.
Anne Sgro, Coburg North
Lower birth rate a plus
A reduced fertility rate is not really a bad thing. Until we examine how climate change will affect our food and water security, our environment and where we will be able to live, we should not be setting ourselves up for a future where we are further destroying the resources that we need to thrive.
Jennie Epstein, Little River
Too many of us
While I agree with Jenna Price that babies are a delightful source of wonder, I also think that there are too many of us for our planet to support. Will we have enough water and arable land to feed ourselves in the future?
Population increases to meet current needs – like looking after our ageing population – only kick the can down the road and, while China’s former one-child policy had draconian unintended consequences, it was a good attempt to plan population.
Helen Pereira, Heidelberg Heights
Democrats out of touch
It didn’t take long for the race card to be pulled (Letters, 13/11). Voters did not reject Kamala Harris because she was a black woman, but because she was a “progressive”, woke Democrat that was completely out of touch with the reality of middle America. It is the same reason Hillary Clinton, a white woman, was rejected in 2016. I am not a Trump supporter by any means, but the Democrats need to closely examine why they have lost the trust of so many Americans.
Wayne Hastie, Albany, WA
Tram freeloaders
My wife and I travelled along Royal Parade, Parkville, last Saturday. Twenty people got on the tram after us. We were not in the free tram zone. Of the 20 people, two used their myki cards. Myki’s replacement will not solve this issue. People appear happy to gamble on not getting caught.
Louis Ferrari, Richmond
They do need an education
Scarily and unfortunately, one of Peter Hartcher’s most horrific insights in his column (12/11) was this: ″The first lesson from the American election is this: inflation is painful, but xenophobia unleashed is primal.″ This is so true. I blame the American education system which is so woefully inadequate.
Frank Flynn, Cape Paterson
Art on the silo
Contrary to your correspondent (Letters, 13/11) describing silo art as desecration, my wife and myself had an enjoyable trip viewing the many magnificent artworks on the silos we visited. There’s always a party pooper who wants to stop tourism that helps the economy of many small towns. Maybe their ideal art gallery would be full of a multitude of blank canvases.
Don Owen, Hawthorn
It is not a blight
If one simply takes the time to Google the Silo Art Trail you will usually find, instead of blank, dull, concrete monoliths, paintings of Australian bird and animal life, farmers and farming life and Indigenous images reflecting the many facets of Australia. It “colours” one’s country travel experience in particular.
There is a world of difference between beautifully rendered murals and silo art and mindless tagging and graffiti, which are a blight on urban buildings.
Peter Russo, West Brunswick
Leave the cement alone
I’m with your correspondent (Letters, 12/11). I found the silos I saw easily forgettable, and too funky to show anything about the history of the areas the artist supposedly represented. I love the stark cement cylinders in our countryside and feel painting them does nothing to remind us of our past. They are beautiful just as they are. Heather Frith, Essendon
Dandenong is home
I have lived and worked in Dandenong (Comment, 21/11) for more than 40 years, and have always felt safe, comfortable and supported. Our neighbours from India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Europe, UK have enriched our lives; we value our proximity to services including public transport (local buses, and a regular train service to the city); medical (hospitals and bulk-billing medical centres); shopping, with large and small retail outlets (Dandenong, Parkmore, Springvale, Noble Park); great sporting and recreation facilities, including gyms and bike and walking paths; libraries with programs for young people, parents and older citizens; and a council that strives to provide quality services.
Jules Klok, Noble Park
The ABC of laughter
Watching the latest episodes of the fabulous Kitty Flanagan series Fisk, I was reminded of the golden days of Melbourne comedy in the 1990s. Wondrously, ABC iview has anticipated the connection and the 1990s series Frontline is there. In a world gone mad we need laughter and satire to stay sane.
April Baragwanath, Geelong
Dystopian system
Re our transport ticketing system, your correspondent (Letters, 12/11) says the latest debacle “is another example of political advisers obsessed with PR imperatives but blind to realities”; or could it be another episode of the ABC’s Utopia?
Paul Henry Cameron, Croydon
Schools funding crisis
As a teacher of specialist maths for many years in a rural school, it is devastating to witness the declining numbers. Schools need additional funding to keep supporting students who wish to study higher level mathematics. Economic considerations mean that small classes at VCE are being cut and students’ only option is to study via distance education. Most students drop the subject rather than trying to complete one of the hardest subjects in the curriculum without direct teacher instruction. There will be fewer engineers for rural areas if country schools who still have qualified teachers and a handful of passionate students are forced out due to a lack of financial resources.
Ruth Bakogianis, Nathalia
Belching incinerators
Surrounding Melbourne with a ″ring of fire″ incinerators was always a dumb idea. No wonder Victorian Labor’s federal colleagues are pooh-poohing the idea (″Labor MPs say ‘no’ to waste incinerator″, 13/11).
It doesn’t matter that incinerators’ design is high-tech or that they operate at high temperatures or that they produce power. All incinerators belch greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Minimising, processing and recycling waste are more sensible than burning waste or dumping waste in landfill sites, there to generate greenhouse methane.
Sweden, which is often proffered as a model of how to reduce landfill and convert waste into power, has a dirty little secret. The Swedes are paid to separate plastics in their garbage and Sweden even imports waste from other nations. But two thirds of plastics are burnt in 34 Swedish incinerators causing greenhouse gas emissions, and the remaining one third is stored semi-permanently or dumped in landfill sites.
A better model would be Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. Using high-tech processes, Ljubljana recycles 70 per cent of its landfill waste. This is expected to rise to 100 per cent by 2035.
But it is very expensive. Until CO2 can be removed via cheap sequestration, or until a cheap substitute for plastic is invented, Ljubljana’s expensive recycling of waste, is the only way of reducing landfill and CO2 emissions to zero. But will Melburnians pay the necessary cost?
Geoff Black, Frankston
Bad tunnel vision
Every time my car wheel “thunks” into a pothole, or I change lanes to avoid the lousy road surface I struggle to understand what is driving the premier’s obsession with building expensive tunnels when so many wonder who is actually going to use them? This fixation on these projects means that so much more of Victoria’s vital infrastructure continues to decline. There is little money for far more important things like schools’ repair, adequate hospitals, etc.
Tony Davidson, Glen Waverley
A puzzling development
Have the Sudoku supremos lost the moderate button these past three weeks? Or have I become a Sudoku genius? Please reinstate the weekly routine before my big head explodes.
Heather Sheard, Port Fairy
Elongated control
Has the US government been corporatised with Elon Musk calling the shots?
Louise Roberts, Mornington
Credit: Matt Golding
AND ANOTHER THING
US politics
Do cheer up everyone. Donald Trump’s only there for four years, what could possibly go wrong? Oh, hang on.
Myra Fisher, Brighton East
US president-elect Donald Trump has begun appointing his hardline team for his second administration. I’m wondering how many will be fired before he even takes office.
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
One cannot comprehend how any rational woman in the US could possibly have voted to resume being chattels under the mantra of ″Your Body, My Choice″.
Bryan Lewis, St Helena
Any possibility of American help in the fight against climate change can be summed up in one phrase – drill, baby, drill.
John Walsh, Watsonia
Everyday shopping list conversations in Arizona, bread, milk and ah, don’t forget to get some more bullets.
Robin Jensen, Castlemaine
If Donald Trump succeeds in deporting 11 million undocumented migrants, who will take over their necessary but poorly paid jobs in the fields, factories, building sites and households of America?
Sandra Torpey, Hawthorn
It would seem that our choice for political leaders is no longer between good and better, but rather between bad and worse.
Les Aisen, Elsternwick
Furthermore
Your editorial ″Concerns grow as rail loop leaves the station″ (13/11 ) is not about public transport. It is about a government’s willingness to deceive and control a voting public.
David Cayzer, Clifton Hill
Will Peter Dutton ever make a costed serious commitment to anything other than a vague “we will look at it”. Now with his rich tax cuts.
Michael McKenna, Warragul
Has the daily Sudoku been dumbed down, or have I just got better at solving them?
Kevin O’Bryan, Swan Hill